A twist of fate
by catchingwrackspurt
Summary: You know the story: Draco meets Hermione, they fall in love and live happily ever after, yes?  But what about when Draco isn't who Hermione thinks he is?  What about when a girl named Tessa seems to be the one who can answer the questions.
1. Chapter 1

Hermione sat on a blue plastic chair, jiggling her legs impatiently, making the chair squeak. She had been biting her lips for the past half an hour, waiting for Draco to meet her. The taste of her own warm blood flooded Hermione's mouth and she released her lips from her teeth.

Hermione was anxious, she always was. Her two best friends in the world - Harry Potter and Ron Weasley -always teased her about it, telling her to 'loosen up' and 'chill out'. It was easy for them to joke about it; they weren't meeting with a person they were sure they loved, every night ... secretly. Well, it was/supposed/to be every night, but it looked like Draco wasn't coming.

With a deep sigh, Hermione rose from her chair. If Draco wasn't coming, there was no use staying in the cold and soon to be deserted and unused classroom. She was just gathering her cardigan when she heard loud footsteps echoing just outside the classroom. Her first instinct was to duck under the rows of chairs that bordered the classroom, and that she did.

The person whose footsteps Hermione had heard was coming straight into the room that Hermione was in. She cursed under her breath, an action that was very out of character for her, but lately, since she had been 'dating' Draco, she had felt a little more...rebellious. The mysterious owner of the footsteps was now on the floor in the room, panting. Hermione could make out a lean, female figure. She was looking around furtively; scanning the room, making sure nobody was following her anymore. Hermione couldn't help smiling, despite herself. She felt just like all of those spies from the books she had read as a child. Her head snapped up and she withdrew from her daydreams when Hermione saw another body enter the room.

At this, Hermione frowned to herself. That face was very familiar, in fact, she saw it every night.


	2. Chapter 2

Draco.

That was the one word that was running through her head at that moment.

Of course, it was accompanied by about a million other thoughts, most of them about betrayal and cheating.

But then again, it didn't look like he was meting up with this girl for fun, did it?

No, she shook her head, he couldn't be cheating on her, but there was still a nagging feeling that there was something wrong and strange about this night-time meeting. But of course something was wrong, Draco was with a girl who, if Hermione positioned her neck in the right spot between the chairs to get a closer look, she could see was about the same age as her and Draco, which didn't make Hermione feel any better, and neither did the fact that she was absolutely dazzling in appearance. She had dark, black hair and glittering, green eyes that had smudged eyeliner framing them. This make Hermione run her fingers over her eyelids self-consciously. She didn't wear any make-up, but most of the girls in her year did, and why shouldn't they? They were sixteen, the only thing that was standing between them and being of age was time, and not much of it. An image of Parvati Patil's overly glossed lips came to her mind, followed by an image of Pansy Parkinson's eyes that were never seen without a thick layer of eyeliner any more. The girl was also wearing flannel pyjama pants and a tank top, but she could make even these look like designer clothes and Hermione felt underdressed compared to her.

"What is it Draco, what do you want?" She asked, her voice quavering on some words.

"You know very well what I want, and I rather you'd save me the trouble of hurting you." Draco snarled at her. This side of Draco was a completely new one to Hermione. Yes, she had thought he was a horrible boy when she first met him in their first year, but this year, when she ran into that very abandoned classroom when she needed to be alone, after bickering with Ron, she had run into Draco, who, at loss of what to do, comforted Hermione, much to her astonishment. Hermione had come back the next night, and there was Draco, waiting for her. It had sort of become an every night thing for them.

"You-you wouldn't-" the girl said, her mouth gaping slightly.

"I wouldn't what? Hurt you?" Draco laughed "You have no idea what I could do if I wanted to, Miss. Darlington, or would you like me to call you Tessa? I'm thinking that I can either hurt you or hurt your family. I hear you have a young brother named, what was it? Ah, yes, little Jacob. Or, there is the option of co-operating with me. It's up to you, really." Draco gave her a sneer that reminded Hermione of the Draco she knew in first year so much that it hurt. This couldn't be Draco. This couldn't be happening. Maybe it was just a dream; maybe Draco was waiting for her right now in the actual classroom. Hermione closed her eyes, hoping with every last nerve of her body that this was a dream, although, in the back of her mind, she knew it wasn't. When she opened her eyes, it seemed the back of her mind was right, this was very real.

"What do you want? Tell me, I'll give it to you, anything, please." Tessa whispered, barely managing to get the words out.

Draco's eyes went directly to Tessa's chest. Hermione had been introduced to a new Draco tonight, but surely even this Draco wouldn't-

"The necklace, give it to me." Draco's voice interrupted her thoughts; Hermione breathed a silent sigh of relief. Tessa's hand closed protectively around the necklace she was wearing around her neck. It was a crest of some sort on a fine gold chain.

"No, not the necklace, my mother-" Tessa started, but it seemed it wasn't only Hermione's thought's Draco was interrupting.

"I don't care what sentimental value that bloody necklace holds. You have no idea how powerful that necklace really is. Now just give it to me, I don't have all night you know, I'm supposed to be meeting-" Draco stopped abruptly and it looked as though he had suddenly remembered his meeting tonight. Now was the time, Hermione couldn't sit by and watch any longer.

"Me?" Hermione stood up from behind the chairs and saw the surprised expression on Draco's face. Obviously he hadn't thought of what would happen if Hermione had remembered their appointment.

"Her-Hermione, I-" but before he could finish, Hermione hit him with an expertly cast stunning spell, making sure he landed on the carpet and not the wood that was outside the door in the corridor. Even though Hermione was shocked at what Draco was doing, you can't stop loving someone that easily.

Tessa couldn't move, obviously tonight had been a rough one for her, but she mustn't have expected someone to come to her rescue like that. Her eyes darted from Draco's limp body to Hermione's wand several times before asking Hermione "Is he dead?"

"No, he'll come round soon, but we don't want to be here when that happens." Hermione answered, staring at Draco. Tessa nodded in reply, but still stood there, unmoving.

"That means we should go, Tessa." Hermione said, frustration creeping into her voice.

"Oh, right," Tessa said shaking her head and obviously bringing herself back to reality. She took one last look at Draco before following Hermione out the door, stepping over him on the way out.

"Wait," Hermione ran back into the room and started to move Draco. "Help me put him on the chair and close his eyes, that way, if anyone found him, he could he could have fell asleep." Hermione instructed Tessa. Tessa rushed to help Hermione and together they put into a convincing position.

"Now let's go," said Tessa this time, pulling Hermione by the hand and leading her out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where are we going?" Tessa asked Hermione, her eyes were still widened in shock. They were somewhere on the seventh floor.

"Uh, I don't quite know yet, Tessa, any suggestions?" Hermione turned around to face Tessa and got her first proper look at her. She was even more beautiful up close.

"All I know is that we have to get out, Draco wants that necklace and he can't get it." Tessa said, determinedly.

"Well, we'll have to go to Dumbledore; we won't be able to get out unless he wants us to." Hermione turned and headed towards Dumbledore's office. Surely this could be easier than stunning her love?

Draco woke with a start to find himself on a hard plastic chair, slumped in an uncomfortable position. He felt disoriented and couldn't make sense of his surroundings. He seemed to be in an abandoned classroom and his nose was covered in something sticky. He felt his nose and wiped some of the substance off. He examined his fingers and yes-that was blood. But why was he bleeding?

Suddenly all the events that took place before he fell unconscious flashed before him, the last thing he could remember was Hermione's frightened face and the glint of the gold necklace on Tessa's neck.

The necklace.

Draco needed that necklace, and he was expected to go to any lengths to get it. Well, that was what the Dark Lord had instructed him. He buried his face in his hands, letting himself fall to pieces. Why him? Why did the Dark Lord choose him? He couldn't even bear to look at the dark mark that had been branded on his left arm.

But deep down, he knew why it was him that had to do this. This was all his father's fault, he had messed up last year at the ministry and now Draco had to pay for it. A pang of hatred for his father ran through him. It was because of him that he was forced to threaten Tessa.

He had known that Tessa had feelings for him, and however small they were, he had to use them to his advantages, so he asked her to meet him that night, completely forgetting about Hermione.

Hermione.

What would she think of him? Surely she couldn't love him after what she just witnessed. Now two people were disappointed at him. Oh, and Tessa. Tessa was all he had left, a way for his father to be forgiven, and for Draco to be respected by the other death eaters, maybe even the Dark Lord himself. Draco should have taken it slower, maybe stolen it from her one night, or pretended to help her do it up, when really swapping it with a similar necklace, but no, he had to go with the 'threaten her and her family so she'll give you her necklace' approach.

Draco got up from the chair and started making his way towards the Slytherin common room; maybe he could dwell over his stupidity better when he was comfortable.


End file.
